Time for Part Two of the Body After Baby Q + A! Check out part one where I discuss things like calorie counting, the baby pooch, and more. Now, more of your fabulous questions! Once again, please remember I answer solely based on my own experience.

Do you ever feel like you’re doing well but the scale doesn’t reflect it?
YES! The scale varies so much for me from week to week. I try to focus on the overall trend and also keep other measures of tracking progress. If the scale hasn’t moved for awhile, but I still see measurements going down, notice clothes fitting better, or feel and look stronger/leaner, then I don’t bother with what the scale says. So many variables can affect that reading – like water weight from what you ate recently and your hormones. I also turn to progress pictures for the most motivational progress tracking.

However, if I notice the scale not moving and other measures not displaying progress for more than a few weeks, then I know I need to take a closer look at things to bust through a plateau. This is another reason why I believe in eating more, not cranking out 2 hours of workouts a day, etc. That way, when you reach a plateau you have room to tweak things such as cutting back a tiny bit more on food or adding a little more intensity in workouts. For me, this usually means just cutting back a little on the treats I inevitably have during the weekends and giving a little extra EFFORT (not extra time!) to my workouts.

How do you know when you’ve reached your “happy weight” and can go into maintenance mode?
I stand by the fact that if you eat whole, quality, nutritious foods the majority of the time and move your body on a regular basis your body will get to its happy place. In my opinion, you know you have reached your “happy weight” when you have energy, feel strong, and you consistently fuel and exercise your body well. Personally, by doing those things, I don’t stress myself and have steadily been dropping the baby weight.

Another thing I remember is the fact that if I have to take on practices that leave me hungry, fatigued, deprived, or less than optimally functioning in any way to lose more weight, I am likely already at my “happy weight”. I think we all need to change our ideal weight or size to match with our healthy weight or size. Be sure the two coincide and if you take care of yourself, your “happy weight” will naturally be where you feel healthy.

How did you determine what you were ready for physically?
I always started out with as light a workout as possible for a week and then checked how I felt. If I felt okay, experienced no soreness/fatigue, and had no signs of doing too much too soon (increased *ahem* bleeding), then I would increase my workout load. In a way, I almost worked backwards from my pregnancy. I started off with moves I could do easily the end of my pregnancy, then gradually added back in things I could do earlier on in the pregnancy until achieving my regular workout intensity. Keeping up workouts while pregnant certainly helped me regain my ability to workout sooner!

I listened to my body and kept feeling great so kept trying just a little bit more. After the first month or two, I found my body able to pick up where it left off quicker than I expected. I will also say though that it took me a good bit longer after Makenzie. I think my body knew what to expect more after the second pregnancy.

You always seem to make progress so easily. Do you ever struggle with the weight loss? Please, tell me you do and that I’m normal!
Of course, you’re normal! Trust me when I say that making progress in reaching my “happy place” does take work. I don’t skip through workouts and keeping track of my eating without a single care in the world. The weight does not just fall off me as I sprinkle rainbows and sing Barney tunes. Heck, no! It. Takes. Work. And a lot of it. I have an avid sweet tooth coupled with a raging appetite from nursing that I always have to be aware of with this journey. I am busy and have plenty of days where I want to not worry about cooking a healthy meal or getting to the gym. I know how much better I feel for it though, and that motivates me to keep going. It certainly is not easy.

Even though, making progress is not what I would deem easy, please note the importance of not making it harder than it has to be either. I make my progress by consistently working towards my health. That’s pretty much the gist of it. I don’t try to restrict food so much that I’m starving. I don’t fatigue myself with overtraining. I don’t jump from this diet to that eating method to this cleanse to that detox and all that madness. So yes, progress is hard for me in the sense I have to persevere through things at times, but not hard in the way I approach my goals.

• What ways do you bust through a weight loss or training plateau?
• Enter my Love Grown Foods Granola giveaway!!

Morning, friends!! Have you entered my giveaway yet? If you missed it, check it out!

For today’s posts, I planned a little Q + A on how I am handling my “Body After Baby” progress. You all shared so many great questions! So, I will post the first round of questions now and a second one early this evening to help you digest all my ramblings. 😉 Please remember that I am sharing from my own personal experience! Also, if working towards your own fitness/body goals, never lose sight of honoring your body and the fact you are wonderfully made!

Q: Do you count calories? If so, how many do you try to eat?
I do loosely track calories. I don’t weigh, measure, and track everything I eat by any means, but I do have a ballpark idea of how many to eat while losing weight. I try to keep each meal around 500 calories with some 200-300 calorie snacks thrown in. I counted calories for so many years, that I can usually pretty easily figure out my totals without tracking religiously. I think this works as a healthy balance to eat appropriate portions for my goals, without feeling overwhelmed or restricted.

As for how many I eat – on average 2300-2500 per day (usually around 2000-2200 on weekdays with closer to 3000 on weekends). This allows me to lose on average one pound or so per week. This is of course a completely personal number and not completely accurate as I don’t track things meticulously. I hesitated to share this number, but decided to because I want to show that you can (and should!) eat and can still manage weight loss. I may be nursing, but even accounting for that, I would still be consuming 1800-2000 comparatively. You do not have to severely restrict. Eat healthy, nutritious foods consistently. It works.

How many times do you aim to workout in a week?
I workout 6 days per week right now. I always make certain to get at least one full rest day each week and will also always add in extra rest as my body needs (like this week with my sore back). I do three days of running, two spin classes, and a few weight workouts each week. You can see updates of my workouts on my Fitness page too!

What do you do to flatten your tummy?
Planks!!! I love planks and believe they provide the best abs workout out there. I don’t do abs workouts regularly because so many other moves (running, lifting weights, kickboxing, etc) naturally work the core. I do add in planks when I can though and I believe they help me a lot.

What are some big nutritional do’s and dont’s while nursing?
My doctors advised me that I can eat normally, but to pay attention to how it affects my child as some foods (beans, chocolate, cruciferous veggies) cause discomfort to the baby. Luckily, baby B seems to have a stomach of steel now and I can eat whatever. I do focus on eating ENOUGH though. I know from experience that you have to eat and stay hydrated to produce milk. Also, certain things help production like wheat germ, flaxseeds, oats, plenty of fat, etc. My Tropical Flax bars are a good fit!

I notice when women leave the hospital, they still look pregnant. How long does it take for that pregnant ‘bump’ to deflate?
It varies, but the pregnant pooch certainly lasts at least 6 weeks as the uterus has not returned to normal size until then. And that area of the body stretched and went through a lot during pregnancy, so it may not ever return to fully flat. But that is 100% okay because you did one of the most amazing things out there!

• I did not get the chance to read a single blog yesterday…so, tell me something going on with you. 🙂
• Let me know if you have any additional questions!